Kudos

October 09, 2007

fully loaded

It's good to have friends. See...in case you didn't know, Running With Tweezers has a Myspace. One of my newest friends is Drew, who roasts some amazing coffees as Drew's Brews. As a coffee fan...and girlfriend to a rabid coffee drinker and best friend to some serious fans...getting to know Drew and his coffee seemed like a good idea. He was sweet enough to send me some samples and I've become hooked. I've ordered several kinds & shared some with friends..and each type has been incredible - I'm still hooked on Lost Weekend.

When the boy and I booked our mountain house for vacation, we were informed that there was an ice cream maker on the premises. We practically squealed (well *I* did, at least). Ice cream is a big treat for me...and sounded like the perfect project to splurge on during vacation. It all seemed to come together perfectly - merging our loves of coffee, ice cream, and cooking. The rumblings began weeks before we left and I came prepared with a copy of David Lebovitz's Coffee Ice Cream recipe, which I found a copy of on Elise's Simply Recipes.

Sure enough, on a Friday evening, I was out on the patio...enjoying the view and chatting with a friend on the phone. I see, out of the corner of my eye,a flurry of activity in the kitchen. The boy had taken the kitchen by storm and had started prepping the ingredients for coffee ice cream...with chocolate covered espresso beans in it. An hour or so later, we were enjoying the creamiest, most heavenly textured ice cream I think I've ever had. The crunchy, dark coffee beans were such a great contrast to the rich ice cream. Add them in after the liquid has cooled & before it all goes in the ice cream maker...and make sure you don't this *right* before bed!

- Heat the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt, and 1/2 cup of
the cream in a medium saucepan until it is quite warm and steamy, but
not boiling. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and
let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

- Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal
bowl, set on ice over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the
bowls. Set aside.

- Reheat the milk and coffee mixture, on medium heat, until
again hot and steamy (not boiling!). In a separate bowl, whisk the egg
yolks together. Slowly pour the heated milk and coffee mixture into the
egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by
the warm milk, but not cooked by it. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back
into the saucepan.

- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof,
flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the
mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger
across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10
minutes.

- Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the
cream. Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of
the coffee flavor as possible. Then discard the beans. Mix in the
vanilla and finely ground coffee, and stir until cool.

- Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze
it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Comments

fully loaded

It's good to have friends. See...in case you didn't know, Running With Tweezers has a Myspace. One of my newest friends is Drew, who roasts some amazing coffees as Drew's Brews. As a coffee fan...and girlfriend to a rabid coffee drinker and best friend to some serious fans...getting to know Drew and his coffee seemed like a good idea. He was sweet enough to send me some samples and I've become hooked. I've ordered several kinds & shared some with friends..and each type has been incredible - I'm still hooked on Lost Weekend.

When the boy and I booked our mountain house for vacation, we were informed that there was an ice cream maker on the premises. We practically squealed (well *I* did, at least). Ice cream is a big treat for me...and sounded like the perfect project to splurge on during vacation. It all seemed to come together perfectly - merging our loves of coffee, ice cream, and cooking. The rumblings began weeks before we left and I came prepared with a copy of David Lebovitz's Coffee Ice Cream recipe, which I found a copy of on Elise's Simply Recipes.

Sure enough, on a Friday evening, I was out on the patio...enjoying the view and chatting with a friend on the phone. I see, out of the corner of my eye,a flurry of activity in the kitchen. The boy had taken the kitchen by storm and had started prepping the ingredients for coffee ice cream...with chocolate covered espresso beans in it. An hour or so later, we were enjoying the creamiest, most heavenly textured ice cream I think I've ever had. The crunchy, dark coffee beans were such a great contrast to the rich ice cream. Add them in after the liquid has cooled & before it all goes in the ice cream maker...and make sure you don't this *right* before bed!

- Heat the milk, sugar, whole coffee beans, salt, and 1/2 cup of
the cream in a medium saucepan until it is quite warm and steamy, but
not boiling. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from the heat, and
let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

- Pour the remaining 1 cup of cream into a medium size metal
bowl, set on ice over a larger bowl. Set a mesh strainer on top of the
bowls. Set aside.

- Reheat the milk and coffee mixture, on medium heat, until
again hot and steamy (not boiling!). In a separate bowl, whisk the egg
yolks together. Slowly pour the heated milk and coffee mixture into the
egg yolks, whisking constantly so that the egg yolks are tempered by
the warm milk, but not cooked by it. Scrape the warmed egg yolks back
into the saucepan.

- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof,
flat-bottomed spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the
mixture thickens and coats the spatula so that you can run your finger
across the coating and have the coating not run. This can take about 10
minutes.

- Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the
cream. Press on the coffee beans in the strainer to extract as much of
the coffee flavor as possible. Then discard the beans. Mix in the
vanilla and finely ground coffee, and stir until cool.

- Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze
it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.